by Stephanie Chatfield
Joanna Mary Boyce (1831 –1861) was a British painter closely connected with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Also known by her married name, Mrs. H.T. Wells, or Joanna Mary Wells, her works often explored historical themes. She was the sister of fellow Pre-Raphaelite artist and watercolourist George Price Boyce.
Elgiva, pictured above was Joana’s first exhibited work and caught the attention of art critic John Ruskin.
The dignity of all the treatment—the beautiful imagination of faint but pure colour, place this picture, to my mind, among, those of the very highest power and promise. Complete achievement there is not in it as yet … but if this artist, looking always to Nature and her own thoughts for the thing to be expressed, will strive to express them, with some memory of the great Venetians in her treatment of each separate hue, it seems to me that she might entertain the hope of taking place in the very first rank of painters. – John Ruskin
Unfortunately, Joana died at a relatively young age after the birth of her third child. Her body of work, though small due to her untimely demise, still commands respect and she was included in the 2019 Pre-Raphaelite Sisters exhibit at London’s National Portrait Gallery.
More about the Pre-Raphaelites
- Birth of the Brotherhood
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti: The Romantic Rebel of the Pre-Raphaelites
- John Everett Millais: The Prodigy Who Painted Emotion
- Pre-Raphaelite FAQs
- Pre-Raphaelite List of Immortals
- Pre-Raphaelite Luminosity
- The Diaries of William Allingham
- What is the ‘Pre-Raphaelite Woman?’
- William Holman Hunt: The Visionary of Pre-Raphaelite Symbolism